Chapter 38

They were thrilled to see him awake. Yuuji was passed along from brother to brother as they were shedding tears of joy. "He woke up! Little one don't scare us like that!" scolded Eso.

Choso was smiling with pride to see him, when Yuuji came into his arms, he was given the most heartfelt embrace. Choso wept tears of joy as well. "You scared us little one, please… don't do that. Oniichan's heart won't take it!" he said and laughed.

Yuuji peered about to everyone, he wanted to ask how he got this way, what was happening to him, but his vocabulary was extremely limited to strange noises that sounded like a laser gun. "Hey, mind if I take him out for a bit? Get him to stretch his wings a little?"

'Wings?' Yuuji thought until he peered behind himself. He fell over in shock! He had wings! 'When did these things come in?!'

Yet as he got himself upright again, the brothers snickered. "Isn't it cute when he tumbles like that?" snickered Sho. "Perhaps some excises is called for, he has been asleep for a while, right?" he asked aloud.

Suiryu was hesitate. "Well… perhaps… but not too high or too far!" he warned.

'What's with you being Mr. overprotective?'

Yet before another word could be spoken, Junpei scooped Yuuji up. "You and I are gonna fly!" he said in an exciting tone. "You ready?"

'How do these things even work?'

#

It was a rocky start. Junpei had brought him outside and summoned his blood wings, from there, he took to the sky but peered back. Yuuji wasn't following him. "Come on Yuuji! Flap your wings and follow me! You can still fly, remember?" he asked gently.

Yet there was something off about Itadori today. He peered behind himself, staring at his wings as if he had never seen them before. Yet as he tried to move them, at first, he rotated his arms, then he tried grabbing them to get them to flap, but there was nothing happening. Junpei smirked a little to it all. Whatever happened maybe made him forget how wings work? Perhaps he needs a refresher course. "Yuuji…. Flap, flap, flap!" he said.

Suddenly, his wings worked!

He was just as surprised as the wings flapped on que! He smiled and tried again, this time he got lift and was now up off the ground! Startled at first, but eventually he got the hang of it again. "Let's go then, you and me!" he cheered.

But paused when he heard the sound of a loud clap!

At first, he thought Todo had come to visit, but he saw his brother Tanso who made the noise. "Oh? Moral support? Or backup?" Junpei asked.

'Both' was etched on his skin. 'Have fun' and smiled to them.

Ah, so he's on the ground in case anything happens. Junpei nodded as he began to go higher and Yuuji followed suit. He didn't go too far off the ground, just in case. The highest he was allowed to go with Yuuji was to the school rooftop, that was it. But in all it was fair, he was just a baby right?

Yet as the more they flew, the more Yuuji dared to go higher. "Oh no you don't! You want Suiryu and Choso to beat the snot out of me for letting you do this!" he demanded.

Yuuji paused but kept peering up to the greater skies before him. Junpei wanted to go too, but he promised, not too high. He sighed aloud. "Not until you're a little stronger, okay Itadori?" he said and turned to face him once more.

But he was gone.

"Yuuji?" Looking about, he couldn't find him, until he peered up. "How the hell did he get that far ahead of me!?" Junpei was quick to fly up to bring him down, but then, the air began to get rather turbulent…

#

'I can fly! I can fly really high!' Yuuji was feeling freedom for the first time in a while, despite Junpei's warning about not going any higher, he still went for it. After all, he has to have SOME fun right?

Yuuji flapped his wings, harder, faster and gained more lift. Yet as he got farther away, the air began to really beat him back! He was tossed by a harsh wind, and then he was thrown up higher, then pushed down until suddenly…

Kink.

His left wing became hurt!

He couldn't move it, the right wing lost its strength as he began to fall! Junpei was just reaching him when the moment happened, he fell out of reach and started to plummet to the ground! Tossed and turned in the air, he peered up, calling for help. Junpei retracted his blood wings and was doing a straight dive towards him! He was just in reach when suddenly…

Snapped!

He was caught, so was Junpei!

His head was spinning, the world a blur until he finally regained his bearings. "Since when could you do this!?"

When he could see clearly once more, he found himself in the arms of Tanso! He was off the ground and flying with crimson wings of his own! Yet his weren't forged of blood, they looked like actual feathers. He was careful to reach the ground once more, placing Junpei on his feet but then brought Yuuji oddly close to his face. He was stern and shaking his finger at him!

"Tanso… thanks for the save… but… how?!" Junpei asked.

The wings were quick to fall part on him, the turned to maggots before reforming into the crow familiars he has. Yuuji had never seen so many crows before! "Wait, you can…" Junpei was about to ask.

Tanso nodded but appeared rather somber about it. "Do you have to lose a familiar to use this ability? The rest are able to reform but one can't?"

He nodded to him once more. Tanso never likes sacrificing a familiar, they are precious to him, but he did so to ensure Yuuji didn't harm himself.

He hung his head. 'I'm sorry Tanso' he thought.

But it appeared his older brother understood he was sorry and nodded to him and gently patted Yuuji's head. A curious look came over him too, Yuuji was brought back inside to the others. Suiryu had left to keep D'angelo updated on current events… sort of. But Tanso brought Yuuji straight to Choso.

"Something wrong?" Choso asked.

The words reappeared on his chest. 'I think little brother is a lot more understanding than he was before' Tanso explained. 'Can we confirm it somehow?'

Curious, Choso turned Yuuji over to face him. Choso peered into his eyes and held out a hand. "Yuuji, will you hold my hand for a moment?"

He obliged and did so. "Good, I will ask you questions, squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no. Do you understand?"

One squeeze.

Already Choso was impressed.

"Okay then, Yuuji, do you know how you became this way?"

Two firm squeezes.

The room paused. "Wait, is he… that's really Yuuji!" said Junpei.

"We need to make certain, that was only two questions, remember, he was rather smart for a little dragon." Choso stated.

'Little dragon? Wait… I was cultivating to become one… but this is what happened?' he thought, but shook the notion from his mind.

He spent twenty minutes answering yes or no questions. But in the end, Choso appeared convinced. "He… it is him... Yuuji!" he cheered and embraced him.

'Too tight!'

When Choso pulled away, he was smiling proudly. "You came back to us. Yuuji, it's good to know you are on your way!"

'Still, what happened to me? How did I get like this? WHY am I like this?' he wanted to ask all these questions, but had no voice to do so.

Then, Choso appeared curious. "Yuuji… do you remember the great lady who has been taking care of you?"

Yuuji reached for his hand and squeezed twice. 'Great lady? Never heard of her'

"Interesting, he has no recall of her."

"Perhaps it's the same thing that happens to us, we cannot recall her until we have seen her… but we are able to speak of her… interesting…" Noranso said offhandedly. "Either way, little brother, you are coming back to us, this is wonderful. We have to let Suiryu know!"